


John Sheppard's Very Long Vacation

by Oparu



Category: Law & Order: SVU, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-03-07
Updated: 2010-03-07
Packaged: 2017-10-07 19:04:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/68218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oparu/pseuds/Oparu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John has a rough plane ride with a sick Elizabeth and a rambunctious child, but two helpful NYPD detectives come to his rescue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He must have fallen asleep during the movie, John realized with a start as the flight attendant tapped his shoulder.

"She's really rather social," she explained as she gently herded the toddler towards John's knees.

In her defense, the dark-haired cherub, Evelyn Sheppard, knocked her father's knee with a chubby fist and grinned at him with her four-toothed smile.

"I'm so sorry," John apologized, aghast as he patted the curly head of his daughter and tried not to yawn. "I thought I had her."

"She's been conversing with a lovely couple up in row twenty-two," the flight attendant explained as she bent to his level. "She's doing really well on the plane for being such a little one."

"She has her moments," John teased as he managed to scoop up his daughter without disturbing Elizabeth's head on his lap.

"How's your wife?" Connie, the flight attendant's name-tag read, asked with gentle concern in her blue eyes. "Any better?"

John balanced his daughter in his left arm as he tried to keep her feet away from her mothers head. "I've been hoping she'll sleep until landing," he answered sympathetically rubbing Elizabeth's shoulder. She'd started getting nauseated in customs and by the time they took off she was keeping her head between her knees and no longer answering questions.

"If you like, I can take her," a man across the aisle offered gently as he looked up from his book. Opening his wallet, he passed across his badge. NYPD special victims unit, read the neat gold lettering. "I promise I'm on the up and up."

Perhaps it was the already nomadic nature of Evie's upbringing, but she took a long look at the man and his smile before burbling happily.

John sighed, remembering how difficult it had been to balance his daughter and help Elizabeth not vomit all over the floor of the plane.

"Might be a good idea," Connie suggested as Elizabeth moaned softly in her sleep. "Just until she's doing better."

"Elliot," the detective offered as he accepted the chubby mass of arms and legs from John's hands. "This is my partner, Olivia. Hello sweetheart," he murmured as the girl grabbed a fistful of his sweater and kept her eyes on her father.

"Thanks," John offered sharply as he searched the seat pocket for a spare airsickness bag.

"She's adorable," Olivia chimed in from the seat next ot her partner. "Pleased to meet you," she tossed towards John.

"John," the colonel introduced himself softly as he felt Elizabeth's head shift in his lap. "She's Evelyn."

"Aren't you a curious one?" Olivia asked as the baby stole Elliottt's badge from his hand and promptly stuffed it in her mouth. Happy to be the center of attention, the munchkin grinned cheerfully.

"How old?" Elliottt guessed. "Ten months? Twelve?"

"Eleven," John answered, impressed that the other man had been so close. He sighed again as he realized how quickly she was growing. He shouldn't be too sentimental, Elizabeth was only six months away from giving them another baby. They'd both suspected she might be pregnant before they left Atlantis, but her schedule had been the mess it usually was, and they hadn't fit the test in until they were already in Thailand.

She wouldn't have passed up the chance to see her mother anyway. She'd been right, of course, Thailand was beautiful, and the embassy her mother was living in was one of the nicer ones John had visited. Drinking in a Thai bar with Elizabeth's mother and the US ambassador hadn't been the way he'd expected to spend his romantic vacation away from Atlantis, but any time with Elizabeth when she wasn't working was wonderful. Even if she was exhausted, headachy, and starting to really suffer from morning sickness, Elizabeth was amazing.

"Food poisoning?" Olivia ventured as she watched him stare at the head in his lap. John had been lucky, he and Elizabeth had managed to get the center row, and she could lie down across a few seats once she was done losing her dinner.

"It's possible, she just thinks it's because we're pregnant," John admitted with a tiny, proud smile. "But she's been a lot worse this time so it might be a mixture of both. I suppose it's a little close together, but we're not getting any younger, right?"

"Not too old, are you?" Olivia teased without expecting an answer.

"Thirty-eight," John surprised her as he smiled over at his daughter. To his delight, she beamed and shook her hands in his direction. She really was a lot more fun now that she was interactive.

"Putting them close together means you get your life back quicker," Elliottt added in sagely as he grabbed Evie off the floor and swung her into his lap. "I have four of my own, and it's kind of nice when they can look after themselves. Keep themselves busy."

"Suppose you just ruined that," Olivia teased cheerfully. "How far along is Kathy now?" Olivia asked her partner as Evie decided her short hair looked like fun and made a grab for it.

"Eight months," Elliottt answered as he met John's eyes. "She got sicker than a dog for awhile when she was pregnant too, with all of them." He smiled sympathetically, remembering the sleeping woman in John's lap as incredibly polite, despite her condition. "How long have you been married?"

"Just over a year," John explained as he thought of the wedding picture in his pocket. He'd been stupid enough to let Rodney take it where the city was visible in the background, and he wasn't going to be able to show it to anyone. Nonetheless, he liked to know where it was; that he could see her whenever he wanted.

"And what do you two do for a living?" Olivia asked holding up a cracker and checking for his permission before offering it to the baby. When John nodded, his daughter attacked it gleefully, demolishing it more than eating it but enjoying it nonetheless.

"I'm an lieutenant colonel in the Air Force ," John replied easily taking a moment to stretch. "When she's feeling better, she manages the international researchers at the deep space telemetry program. Babysits the scientists and keeps them from starting World War Three over neutron particle rights."

"Is that how you met?" Olivia asked curiously brushing crumbs from her lap. "Where are you stationed then?"

"That's Colorado isn't it?" Elliottt explained with a shake of his head. "I was a marine, go plenty of babysit gigs, but I never got sent up there."

"Not much to shoot," John lied and slipped into his cover story. "I ended up having to fly her around a lot."

"Workplace romance can be a difficult thing to manage," Elliottt observed as he avoided Olivia's eyes and concentrated on the baby. Evie had realized she liked crackers after all and was pestering Olivia for more.

"So far we do all right," John explained as he thought about how true that was. It certainly wasn't easy to know that if he made a mistake in the field, he'd be coming home to his girls in a body bag. If anyone understood that feeling, he bet a pair of detectives would. "Sometimes it gets a little hairy out there."

"Test pilot?" Olivia asked reading the chagrin in John's eyes. "Flying the UFOs I keep seeing on late night television?"

John laughed and smirked when he realized that was fairly accurate actually. "That's me, I'll admit it."

Elizabeth moaned and stirred again and he realized she might be waking up. Keeping his cool hand on her forehead, he wished he could do more to calm her stomach. The eighteen-hour flight from Thailand back to the US really wasn't helping matters. He wondered if he should have pushed harder for an Air Force plane, instead of the commercial jet. His rank and her position both commanded a certain amount of respect, as did hers, but as usual, she didn't want to make a fuss.

"What's special victims stand for?" John asked congenially. Deeply grateful to be sitting next to people Evie seemed to like. At least this way, if he fell asleep again, she'd stay out of harm's way.

"Sex crimes," Elliottt answered easily. He could read the symbols on John's luggage, and he figured a colonel could handle it. "We've just closed down a fairly vicious prostitution ring."

"Good for you," John answered as he tried to wondered what civilian life was like. Sometimes he forgot humans could be just as evil as any of the monsters he had to face everyday. "I suppose most of the time your work keeps you a little closer to home."

"This was as much of a vacation as we get," Olivia jumped in with a resigned look. John knew that combat hardened look in her eyes and suddenly he didn't envy her job.

"Elizabeth's," John nodded towards his wife as he used her name, "Her mother is stationed at the US Embassy there. We don't get a lot of leave, and she wanted to make sure the little one knows her grandmother as much as possible."

"She's a sweet one," Elliottt observed as he watched the slow, proud smile llight John's face.

"Don't know where that came from," he murmured sarcastically as he buried a yawn behind his hand. "Must be her mother."

"Have you slept at all since you left Thailand?" Olivia wondered as she offered the baby one of her pretzels from the little foil bag.

John shook his head and nudged the bag at his feet with one of his shoes. "She has juice in here," he explained wishing he could reach it. His right leg was asleep with the weight of Elizabeth's head.

"Are there diapers?" Elliott asked as he stole the bag and passed off the little girl to Olivia. He dug around for a moment and found what he was looking for. "Mind if I?" Tilting his head towards the bathroom, he accepted Evie back from Olivia's outstretched arms.

"I can do that," John protested as he yawned again, feeling a little chagrinned that complete strangers had his daughter.

"It's all right," Olivia explained as she watched Elliot disappear towards the bathroom. "He and his wife are having another one, kind of a late baby, the other four are all in high school, and Maureen's even in college now."

Shaking his head slowly, John tried to imagine Evie in university. It was a stretch of his imagination to picture his daughter reading, much less reading Chaucer and complaining about calculus. McKay could help her with calculus. Hell, he could help her with calculus, it was the Chaucer that they'd need mom for. "Are you sure it's okay?" he ventured again, craning his neck slightly to make sure his daughter wasn't screaming her head off.

"It's fine, it's really fine," she promised smiling warmly and making him feel a little more guilty. John didn't usually bother with guilt, but he could usually handle his family. It had been hard enough getting Elizabeth and Evie through customs. Her original US passport had her marked as a foreign birth, but that only brought up too many questions. There was no Antarctic government to ask for documentation and it was a strange story that way.

The SGC was working on a military passport but it had only been eleven months, so John didn't expect it would get through the bureaucracy any time before Evie was two. Elizabeth's passport was fine, but she'd been so dizzy by then Thailand security forces had almost barred them from getting on the plane. Elizabeth's mom had saved them when she pulled away the leader and explained to him gently that her daughter had just found out she was pregnant, and if he wanted to avoid a diplomatic incident he'd just let them through.

Elizabeth being pregnant carried a lot more weight with security than anything John could have come up with and the rest of that experience wasn't nearly as awful as the beginning. Elizabeth even made it until they were airborne before she threw up. "My wife is pregnant, no she doesn't have the plague", went a long way to soothe the stewardesses, but it wasn't quite the vacation they'd planned.

John closed his eyes for a moment and tried to remind himself to remember how much easier it was to deal with with just one baby before they had two. His mind wandered until it settled on his full bladder and the idea that he really needed to pee. He started to try and decide how to move Elizabeth without waking her up when he caught Olivia staring at him.

"I, uh-" he started pathetically and then had to smile as she stood up.

"Okay," Olivia offered as she circled to the other side and knelt down in front of Elizabeth. "I'll hold her head, you sneak out to the bathroom."

For a moment, John wondered if Elizabeth would be angry if she woke up, but he decided she was responsible enough to handle it. Olivia was fairly graceful and the swap went smoothly.

Sighing gratefully as he stretched his legs, John rocked the stiffness out of his back. "I'll be right back," he whispered to Olivia as she reached for a magazine.

"It's fine," Olivia insisted as she started paging through his copy of "Popular Science". "You're definitely allowed to go to the bathroom."

* * *

 

Elizabeth was pulled out of her fairly pleasant dream involving the south pier and Evie being with Teyla for the night, by the sudden and unsurprising sensation that she was going to throw up. She'd spent most of her post-university life free from the sensation, and barring a few incidents with questionable food, she considered herself to have a strong stomach. That was, of course, until she'd found herself pregnant.

That initial shock of discovering her body was fully out of her control had been followed by several others. Finding out that by 'movement' Keller meant twisting, turning, nearly constant nudging that seemed to only cease when she could have used the distraction, had been a difficult one. It was seeing John cry that had been the most surprising of all. Perhaps if it had been later, when he was holding the baby instead of still holding her sweat-drenched, naked, blood and mucus smeared body, it would have made more sense.

It was then she'd realized he was more in love with her than it seemed possible for anyone to be, and that she was half of an epic love story more consuming than anything she'd read. Maybe that was why finding out she was pregnant again was less of a shock and more simply just a moment of change.

Elizabeth's mind's endless ability to categorize things was defeated by the fact that in this moment she was going to be sick. John's hands caught her hair and held her calmly over one of the tiny little airsickness bags that she'd never thought anyone really had to use on planes. The juice and pretzels John had coaxed her into eating came back as a mess of half-digested mush.

When her stomach stopped lurching, she lay back and looked up for him as she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. John had been replaced by a woman, one with a kind, serious face and a very apologetic smile.

"Hi," Elizabeth murmured sheepishly as she tried to remember if she'd met this woman before in her life.

"I'm Olivia," the stranger offered easily as Elizabeth felt her put the airsickness bag away. "You okay?"

Closing her eyes helped her concentrate, and though her stomach was more upset with her than it had been since she was pregnant with Evelyn, it was more passive at the moment. "For awhile," she replied slowly opening her eyes again. "You're a friend of John's?"

"Just met him actually," Olivia offered as she handed over one of the wet wipes leftover from dinner so Elizabeth could clean her mouth. "Do you want water?"

Shaking her head slightly, Elizabeth tried to place Olivia's accent and clothing. "New York?" she asked as she decided it was the best guess.

"NYPD," Olivia answered with a raise of her eyebrows that made belied how impressed she was. "My partner and eye are sitting over there, and your daughter decided she's pretty fond of Elliot."

"Your partner?" Elizabeth guessed as she read a story much longer than coworkers in Olivia's face.

"He has kids of his own," Olivia explained to alleviate the fears she obviously expected Elizabeth be having. "I think kids know that."

Elizabeth smiled slightly and wondered how she could explain that her daughter belong to an entire city as much as she belonged to her parents. If John trusted them, that was enough for her. Evelyn would probably just want to kick her stomach and it might be easier for everyone if she stayed with Elliot. "She's a little social butterfly," she teased as she rested her hand on her stomach. "I hope we're not ruining your flight. I'm sure John appreciates the break and I'm afraid I haven't been any help to him since we took off."

"He's just stretching his legs," Olivia reported as she peered over the seats around her and looked for John.

"I'm not going anywhere," Elizabeth sighed and closed her eyes again. In addition to the twisting sensation in her stomach, her head felt like someone had packed her brain in cotton and stuffed it back into her skull. "So he suckered you in with his sad puppy, my girls are more than I can handle routine?"

"He did look really pathetic," Olivia replied as she tried not to laugh. "Said some nice things about you to prove he was a sensitive guy and dumped the kid on my partner."

"That's my husband," Elizabeth groaned and opened one eye to look at the magazine she could hear rustling in front of her face. "Is that what he left you?" Laughing only made her stomach spin, but she couldn't help herself.

"The article about super conductors is kind of interesting," Olivia offered helpfully as she felt Elizabeth start to squirm from barely contained laughter. "I think he was more worried about getting a chance to go to the bathroom than making sure I had something interesting to read."

"Did he tell you I almost got him arrested in the airport?" she chuckled without moving her head. "My mom had to tell the security guards he was being overprotective because I'm pregnant, not because I had a bomb strapped to my stomach."

Rustling and clanging in the aisles signaled the arrival of another meal as Olivia looked up. "You're probably not interested in dinner, right?" she asked gently resting a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.

Elizabeth had a moment to contemplate it before the stewardesses passed them with the carts of food on their way towards the front of the cabin. Olivia watched the wince darken her face as the smell of food passed them by. Elizabeth held on for a moment, but then her hand flew up to cover her mouth and she curled a little tighter around her stomach. "I'm sorry," she moaned apologetically. "I might--"

"Okay," Olivia interrupted as she searched for a second airsick bag, just in case. "We're good."

Elizabeth's hand stayed on her mouth and her eyes closed.

"Can you think your way out of it?" Olivia suggested helpfully. "Think about dogs, or math problems or your taxes until it goes away."

Elizabeth knew she shouldn't laugh. It wasn't funny. Laughing made her stomach move and compounded the twisting in her throat. It had been years since she'd even thought about taxes. The military had special accountants just for strange situations like hers and John's, and they ignored their finances unless they were on Earth.

The food cart passed Elizabeth without her throwing up again and she counted that as a small victory. John returned from the bathroom and his walk and waited behind it for his chance to sneak back in. He dropped to his knees in the aisle and reached for her cheek.

"Hey," he murmured gently. "How're you doing?"

Elizabeth knew he'd sense her lying, so she sighed and let him bury his fingers in her hair. "I've been better," she replied honestly as he tucked her hair behind her ear. "You left me with a strange woman," she pretended to complain as Olivia chuckled above her.

"She seemed nice enough," John replied with a grin. He slid in between the seats enough to kiss her forehead. "Suppose you'd get mad at me if I said you were cute when you're pregnant?"

"That might be logical," Elizabeth answered with a soft smile. "I think it's just because I don't have the energy to argue with you. Go eat your dinner, I can see the pictures and the bottoms of the articles in Olivia's magazine. I'm fine."

"Hey, only six hours left," John tried to sound cheerful about it, but he looked almost as bad she felt. Her hand brushed through his hair and he shared her smile. "Are you sure you don't want to eat?"

"I think you, Olivia, and everyone else in the back of the plane agrees with my decision to skip the airplane food," Elizabeth muttered as she waved him off.

John obeyed and sat down next to Elliot and Evie. It only took him a moment to attack his dinner. The curry and his rice Elliot had grabbed for him disappeared, along with his salad and his strange piece of cake, as if they'd all been inhaled.

"He's eating everything," Olivia whispered down when Elizabeth tilted her head up for a report. "Like he hasn't eaten in days."

"Probably hasn't," Elizabeth said with a sigh. "I'm hard on him, like this," she mused as she reached for the blanket covering her legs and tried to pull it up higher.

"I don't think it's you," Olivia argued gently reaching down and fixing the blanket for her. "Elliot worries about Kathy, I think it just gives men something to do while women are pregnant."

"No children?" Elizabeth half-asked even though she knew the answer. Olivia was less comfortable with Evie than Elliot was, and Elizabeth was getting to the point where she could the people who had children in the way they looked at her.

"Oh no," Olivia answered shaking her head. "Not with my schedule."

"You'd have to meet someone to have the relationship necessary to have the children," Elizabeth teased knowingly. She thought she'd liked this detective.

"Even to have the intimate relations part," Olivia joked lightly setting her magazine away and staring down at the stranger in her lap. "It's all right. I see kids every day who need me to save them more than I need to have any of my own."

Elizabeth toyed with her watch thoughtfully. She'd seen refugee camps and children starving and dying from a lack of food and water. She'd been too stunned to cry and had to face the fact that she couldn't save them. She couldn't save one, but if she kept fighting, she might make a world where none of them needed to be saved.

"I thought I'd never have children," Elizabeth admitted ruefully. "I thought I was too busy, too driven, too focused--"

"But?" Olivia asked as her lips twitched in amusement.

"I fell in love," Elizabeth continued as she watched emotion surface in the other woman's soft brown eyes. "And I let myself get to the point where that love was more important than any foolish ideas I had about my life being orderly. I didn't need to get my paperwork done on time, or sleep through the night, or make it through an international flight without wanting to vomit my guts out."

Olivia read through the humor, as Elizabeth thought she might. "Was it worth it?"

John got Olivia's attention with a hand on her shoulder and passed over his plain, white roll.

"John would like you to try and eat this," Olivia explained as Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Ask him to trade places with you first," Elizabeth suggested with a vicious twinkle in her eyes. "Just so I don't end up ruining any of your clothing."

Olivia's laughter ran through their part of the cabin.

"I wasn't that funny," Elizabeth teased as she tried to guess what was going on out of her vision.

"Your daughter has both men making the most ridiculous faces as they try and get her to eat something she would much rather smear all over Elliot," Olivia explained as she tried to contain her laughter. "Elliot's going to have peas in his hair."

"Is it short?" Elizabeth asked warily wishing her daughter was more refined.

"He'll be fine," Olivia assured her as she pantomimed Elliot taking a fist of peas in the chin. "Just a little messy for the moment."

"The worst days of having a family make the best days of my single life seem hollow," Elizabeth answered the old question. "I don't think I really knew how to live before I had Evie. Maybe I was faking it fairly well, but she's really taught me how important it is to smile and how unimportant it is to keep peas out of my hair."

"Spoken like a mom," Olivia agreed as she watched John rescue the baby spoon from Elliot's lap and help her partner with his airplane sounds as they fed the baby.

"It's worth trying," Elizabeth murmured as she yawned settled into her blanket. "The being in love thing is all right too."

Olivia couldn't take her eyes off Elliot and the green smeared across his chin. He was smiling as if the expression had snuck up from his heart and completely taken over his face.

"Maybe I'll try it," Olivia replied enigmatically without realizing that Elizabeth had read something in her face she'd spent years trying to bury.

"Maybe," Elizabeth repeated as she wondered what the history was between her new friends. Would John have swept her off her feet if he'd still been married to Casey? Would she have allowed it? "Are they getting any food in the baby?" she asked more lightly.

"Some," Olivia giggled and turned down to explain. "Now she's moving towards John's hair."

Elizabeth thought about lifting her head and decided it was better to kept it where it was. "Still peas?"

"No, I think they're trying something purplish now--" Olivia trailed off as her eyes widened. "They're pretty brave to give her something that dark colored."

"Foolhardy is more like it," Elizabeth muttered to herself. "I told him to only try the things that don't stain on the plane."

"It's a good thing he's wearing black," Olivia added to her commentary. "Your laundry must be--"

"Oh, you have no idea."


	2. Lost Luggage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John Sheppard deals with missing baggage, his daughter and his sick wife in an airport. Bonus Sam/Jack and Elliot/Olivia from Law and Order: SVU

"Elizabeth?" John's hand in her hair startled her out of watching Evie run around the fort Elliot had built out of their luggage. His hands were empty and his eyes looked tired. "I don't think our stuff is coming."

"Oh, John, really?" she sighed softly and tried to think if she'd seen where he'd dropped off their luggage. Though Elizabeth searched her memory, she didn't remember seeing him do it. "Are you sure?"

"Everything else is gone," he explained as he sank to the floor and watched his daughter babble contentedly to part of Detective Stabler's suitcase. Elizabeth was sitting on the floor next to him, leaning back against the pillar in baggage claim and looking slightly better now that she was only tired instead of nauseated. Being off of the plane had helped tremendously, but she still was taking great care not to move her head.

Running his thumb across her forehead, John leaned closer and wished he could make something go right.

"I forget other means of transportation don't have inertial dampeners," Elizabeth whispered low enough that only he heard her. "I figured I'd be fine on the plane because I'm always fine in the jumper."

"I don't know if it's even possible to get motion sick in the jumper," John mused as he whispered into her hair. "Want to know something pathetic?"

Elizabeth nearly laughed, and then groaned in surprise as Evie choose that moment to climb onto her lap. Baby fists impacting her stomach made her eyes widen for a second in uncomfortably panic until John plucked the baby away from her mother. "Thanks," she groaned and waited for him to finished.

"I think I put my wallet in the bag," John admitted leaning his head back and lifting his daughter up so she giggled at him. "Did I put the wallet in the bag, baby?"

Elizabeth nodded her head slowly and to John's chagrin, Evie began to mimic her mother.

"i think you're right, pumpkin," John lowered her to his lap and then released her back into the luggage fort. "What do you have in your purse?"

"My purse?" Elizabeth wondered as she looked around. The luggage fort was constructed entirely of Elliot and Olivia's things. The carryon bag only had baby things and their passports. She and John planned on taking a bag of their own, but she'd been so sick in the airport neither of them had wanted to bother trying to remember one more thing and he'd checked it with the rest. "I think you put it in the bag so I wouldn't leave it in the bathroom somewhere."

Elliot and Olivia returned from checking on the connecting flight to Denver. The weather in New York was hideous and from the looks on their faces, John and Elizabeth were stuck there.

"This storm reaches nearly all the way to the Mississippi," Elliot explained as he offered a few goldfish crackers to the baby. "I think they'd try to fly in it, but it looks like it just turns to freezing rain south of here and they don't want to risk it. We talked to the airline and they're trying to find hotel rooms for everyone but it's Christmas--"

"Maybe we should call the Air Force," Elizabeth teased with a sigh, lowering her head to John's shoulder. "See if they're rescue us."

"They still probably won't make it until tomorrow," John admitted as he checked his watch. Ten-thirty-eight pm meant most of the hotels would be booked, and the airline would find them one halfway across town, in the snow, with Elizabeth and the baby in a taxi. If the hotel would even let him check in without a credit card, even if it was on the airline's dollar. "Okay," John began as he put his hands on his knees and started dragging himself to his feet. "I'll go look for the lost baggage people if you think you can get yourself through customs and wait for me on the other side?"

"Are you taking the baby?" Elizabeth asked miserably trying to smile for his benefit.

"We'll help," Olivia offered as Elliot scooped Evie out of the luggage and started collecting his. "We're both off until tomorrow morning. Least we can do is get you through the airport."

"You don't have to--" Elizabeth started to protest as she began to stand up. Leaning against the pillar helped but the room swam darkly when she moved.

Olivia and John's hands both went to her shoulders and she let John help her find her balance.

"Okay then," Elizabeth corrected herself and tried to release John. Keeping a hand on Olivia's arm helped her keep her balance and she managed to smile weakly in John's direction. "I will do my best to stay conscious until you get back."

John kissed her cheek and grinned even though his eyes were dark with concern. "  
"It's the little things," he finished gently. "I'll be right there."

"You'd better," Elizabeth retorted playfully watching Evie grin happily at Elliot. "Someone might be tempted to try and go home with the detective."

John kissed his daughter's fat cheek for good measure. "You'd better not," he admonished his daughter as he mussed her hair. "Okay, now luggage."

* * *

"No," Elizabeth finished simply as she glared at the TSA security guard and his bland expression. John knew the death glare when he saw it and stopped making eye contact.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm going to have to ask your husband a few questions," the guard insisted as he tried to wave John aside.

"No," Elizabeth argued in her iciest tone. "He hasn't done anything, he has his family out here and we've just gotten off an eighteen-hour flight from Thailand."

"Ma'am," the guard touched John's shoulder when he didn't move. "The rules exist for a reason."

Elizabeth muttered something under her breath and Elliot decided to intervene. "Look, Frank, I'm a detective with the NYPD and this is my partner. This man and his wife are with us, so why don't you just let him go through?"

"If you really are with the NYPD I don't need to tell you about the rash of counterfeit passports, military passports, coming through our points of entry," Frank replied bristling angrily. "I can't just let some possible enemy combatant through because you said he's okay."

John watched Elizabeth stiffen and her eyes tart to narrow. "Detective, may I borrow your phone?" she asked politely holding her hand out to Olivia.

Wordlessly, Olivia placed her phone into Elizabeth's hand and waited. Elizabeth started to dial as John watched her and shook his head.   


* * *

In Washington D.C., Jack cursed as the phone interrupted the movie. Though they'd been interrupted by dire emergencies each and every time they'd tried to watch it, he and Sam were trying to finish "Planet Terror" for the fifth time. She was the one who sighed and responsibly reached for the phone.

"New York?" she wondered as she reached for the pause button.

"I don't know anyone in New York," Jack complained as he glared at the caller ID.

"John and Elizabeth were flying through there," Sam reminded him as she got up for more popcorn. "Maybe it's them."

"Sheppard better not be in trouble," Jack sighed as he answered on the third ring. Sam heard nothing for a long moment. Then Jack started to speak and all the annoyance drained from his voice. "Look, just hand me to the moron," he ordered as Sam listened.

"Yes, you, moron," Jack repeated into the phone as someone argued with him. "No, shut up and listen to me. I'm Major General Jack O'Neill- two 'L's'- and you're ruining my movie so I'm going to make this short. You let John Sheppard through your damned line and you do it right now. Or what?"

He stood up and stomped towards the window. "Or what? What's wrong with you? Do you want to be disappeared into guarding the border in International Falls, because that's really where you're headed. Yes, International Falls, Minnesota, the city where it was thirty-below for two weeks. Shut up. Yes, just shut up and listen to me. Call your superior, call your wife, call the damn president because I am the Cheif, you heard me, Chief of HomeWORLD security, not some damn petty little officer who gets his rocks off by intimidating exhausted travelers.

"You bet your ass I said world, go ahead, call someone. Call anyone in your chain of command who doesn't damn well know who I am and what I do to knot-it-all numbskulls like you."

"Yes, I'll wait, I'd love to wait. I'd love to wait while you throw your career away. If you get around to calling the President tell him he still owes me a pitcher from last week's game," Jack covered the phone and winked at Sam. "He does."

"I'm sure he does," Sam murmured as she settled back into the couch. "I'm surprised he hasn't learned not to bet against you."

"He just thinks he can win-" Jack interrupted himself as the phone started to speak again. "Well thank you very much, you have a lovely night." He waited a moment for Elizabeth to come back. "Did that work? Yes? Good. Call tomorrow and we'll come get you. Okay? Good." Tossing the phone aside he plopped back on the sofa. "Sheppard lost their luggage and TSA wanted to take him and toss him somewhere unpleasant," he explained as he pulled her into his arms.

"Everything okay?" Sam asked with gentle concern.

"Yeah, yeah," Jack waved off her worry. "Elizabeth sounds like hell though."

"Probably jet-lagged," Sam supposed as she started the movie again. "She mentioned feeling a little off before they left."

"Jet-lag," Jack corrected. "That's it."

"Right," Sam agreed lazily reaching for her beer as neither of them said what they were thinking. The first time Sam had ever seen Elizabeth actually sick was the week before John had dragged her down to the infirmary to diagnose

"I need ninjas," Jack complained as he watched the zombies converge on a house on his flat-screen television.

"Ninjas?" Sam repeated as she tried not to choke on her beer. "Why ninjas?"

"I'm a general," he started to complain bitterly still upset at the audacity of that security guard. "I'm a two star general who isn't allowed to fly or do anything fun anymore and some stupid little stuffed-shirt security man-thing thinks he can argue with me." He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the thought. "I need ninjas minions to do my bidding."

Reaching for the popcorn across his lap, Sam shrugged and kept her eyes on the movie. "I could build you a robot," she offered without paying any real attention to his tantrum.

"Would it be a ninja robot?" Jack asked as he dug into the popcorn.

"I could paint it black," Sam suggested putting her beer aside with a sigh and getting up to make coffee. "Are we driving to New York then?"

"Yeah," Jack sighed and reached for the remote. "Tell me again why we can never make it through a simple movie and the age-old struggle of zombies against mankind?"

"Because between my city and your world, our numerous skills are in high demand," Sam teased as she started grinding coffee.

"And my SUV," Jack sighed and picked up the popcorn as he stretched out his back. "Tell me again why we're so nice to our underlings?"

"You don't have ninjas," Sam reminded him as she threw a pair of socks in his direction from the bedroom.

"Right."  


* * *

"It's not much," Olivia explained as she circled the car to open Elliot's door for him. His hands were full of a sleeping baby Evelyn, and he'd been happy to accept the responsibility of serving as her car seat. "But, it beats waiting at the airport."

John brushed snow out of his hair and pulled his coat a little tighter before he lowered his hands for Elizabeth. Aside for a moment on the drive over when she'd nearly needed them to stop the car, she looked marginally better. The dark circles under her eyes were getting worse, but she looked slightly less green. Her hands trembled slightly in her borrowed gloves, and John held them tight as she stood up. "Evie?" she wondered as she lowered her face out of the blowing wind.

"Elliot's got her," John comforted as he wrapped an arm around her back. "When did you sleep?" he worried as he lead her over to the door into the police station.

"I slept on the plane," Elizabeth insisted as she covered her mouth and yawned. "I slept more than you did," she continued to protest even though her feet were unsteady.

"I'm not dizzy," John pointed out as he guided her up the snowy steps to the NYPD building. "You're the one who's a little weavey."

"You got me pregnant again," Elizabeth reminded him as she waved him to a stop. "I- uh--"

"Again?" John sighed sympathetically as her head dropped to his shoulder. "What did you eat in Thailand? Something squirming?"

"No squirming," Elizabeth moaned into his neck as she listened to his steady breathing and Olivia laughing in the background. "Evie?"

"Snowflakes make her make faces," John explained as he watched the detective's play with his daughter. One of Evie's most useful traits was a patience with most adults she met. "I can't remember if she's seen snow in the city."

"Not our city," Elizabeth answered as she lifted her head and let him finish leading her up the steps into the NYPD building. "I think this will be the first time I've spent the night in a police squad room."

"Would I get in trouble if I said it wasn't?" John teased just cheerfully enough to get her to smile. "I was doing my part of MP duty, learning riot control and SWAT team responses."

Elizabeth's naked hand grabbed the frigid stone wall for support. "Did you deserve it?" she asked lightly as she found her breath. The cold air was helping, but she still looked pinched, exhausted and pale.

"Oh yeah," John murmured as his hand wiped melting snow from her cheek. "I really did. Learned a lot though, once they got done letting me be the bad guy."

"Bad boy," she chided with as she patted his hand with her chill fingers. "Come on, it's warmer inside."

"So, what happened to that tropical, easy, lazy vacation you wanted?" John wondered as he watched cars struggle in the snow on the street.

"I'm usually not this unlucky," Elizabeth reminded him as he guided her towards a desk and started taking off her coat. "It must be you."  


* * *

"Think they'll be okay?" Olivia asked as she watched Elliot balance the baby on a his desk as he teased her chubby hands out of her coat. "It's fine for you and me to spend the night here but they'll have her and I don't think Elizabeth's going to be up to much."

"Ever spent the night in the airport?" Elliot asked as he tickled the baby's chin to get her to smile toothily at him. "The airline would probably have kept them for hours then sent them to some chain hotel that was overcrowded. They'll be fine. People will be here if they need anything. It's safe. It's quiet in back."

Munch emerged from around the corner with his coffee and stared at the baby on Elliot's desk. "I thought you were bringing kids home to Thailand," he joked drolly as he grinned at the baby. "She's kinda cute. Those her parents?"

"Rescued them from the airport," Elliot explained as he dug into the bag for baby food.

"Good people?" Munch asked watching as the baby used two hands to snatch a pretzel out of Elliot's grasp.

"Sickeningly cute," Olivia answered as she returned with coffee for her partner and herself. "You'll like them but not admit it, like usual."

"At least I'm consistent," Munch teased over the lip his coffee cup. "Are you taking them back when they tart flying again?"

"Someone's coming to get them tomorrow," Olivia offered as she watched Elliot amuse the baby with a hidden pretzel in his hand. "Friends of theirs from DC."

"Good friends to drive all the way down up here in the snow," Munch commented as he shook his head at Elliot. "Big Marine like you, undone by all the babies that come through here."

"See how she keep smiling?" Elliot asked softly as he brushed crumbs off her cheek and watched as she headed for Olivia's coffee cu out of curiosity. "We don't get a lot of kids like that."

Olivia met her partner's eyes and shared his silence for a moment. "Your baby will smile like her, you'll see," she promised.

"Probably a lot easier with two parents," Elliot sighed and took Olivia's coffee so she could lift the baby off the desk. "I'll go check on a couple bunks. See if they need dinner?"

"Casey was bringing us poor slobs some Chinese," Munch said waving his elbow towards the door. "They're more than welcome to that," he nodded towards them. "I'll go introduce myself." He stopped as he watched Elizabeth bury her head against her husband's stomach. "She okay?" he asked softly as he passed Olivia's shoulder.

"Jet-lag, something stomach related from the trip," Olivia paused tried to detangle baby fingers from her hair. "They just found out she's pregnant again too."

"Heck of a vacation," Munch intoned dryly. "Remind me to save her some of the white rice."

"Good man," Olivia said thankfully watching up towards Elliot and the bunks. "Come on sweetie, let's go find that partner of mine."  


* * *

Elliot was pulling blankets out of a storage locker and making up two of the bunks on the far side of the room.

"Hey," Olivia started as she balanced the baby on her hip and watched him. "You okay?"

"First time Kathy was pregnant, we were terrified," he explained as he fluffed out the simple blue blanket over the bed. "I remember sitting there and praying that test was going to be negative. then when it wasn't-" When he paused a hint of a smile lit his face. "Part of me realized this could be the best thing to ever happen to me. I mean, this was my chance to be someone's dad. What could be better than that?"

Olivia set the baby down and let her explore the bed as she sat down next to her. "Not this time?" she asked softly waiting for him to answer.

"Kathy just showed up," he answered tugging on the blanket and watched Evie try to figure out how it was moving. "Walked in and told me she was pregnant."

"You had a choice," Olivia insisted weakly watching him shake his head.

"Let my kid grow up with a dad on weekends and every other holiday?" the question hung in the air as he scratched the back of his neck. "That wasn't even working for the older kids. Kathleen, Maureen...how can I ask a baby to grow up like that?" Pulling the blanket again, he knocked Evie gently onto one chubby arm and she batted the other one at the blanket as she stared at it, waiting for it to move again. "Think you'll ever want one?" Elliot watched her face contort and started to chuckle. "You never know. They sneak up on you."

"Yeah, yeah," Olivia muttered as she scooped up te baby and led Elliot back downstairs. "I think I'm missing a vital part of that equation."


	3. the Washington Detour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Jack rescue John and Elizabeth and take them to their apartment in Washington DC.

"I would just like to point out that if you'd let me buy the H3 like I wanted too, none of this would be happening," Jack pointed out smugly as he glared at the line of slowly moving traffic on the freeway. "I could drive over them."

"You don't need to compensate for anything that much," Sam insinuated as she licked the whipped cream off her peppermint mocha. "Sweetheart," she mocked as she flicked sprinkles at him.

"Well, no," Jack grunted as he realized there was no winning this argument. "Doesn't mean I should have gone out and bought a damn VW beetle. Probably could have gotten a pink one too, while I was at it."

"I don't know if I'd go that far," Sam giggled reaching for the bad from the coffee shop. "Did we get scones?"

"How can you eat those?" Jack grumbled as he swigged his coffee. "Aren't they just for yuppies and uppity university kids?"

"Better than cheese poofs or whatever those are," Sam teased and stared at the bag on his lap. "Do you still have to eat like a teenager?"

"You are what you eat," Jack scoffed and then paused. "Well, you're only as old as your heart eats, or eat your heart out, or something to that effect."

"Maybe your heart is what you should be worried about," Sam muttered darkly pulling her feet out of her boots and resting her feet on the dashboard. "I hate to keep reminding you, but you're not as young as you think you are."

Chuckling, Jack shook his head. "I'm not thirty?" he baited.

"You're not even forty," Sam quipped back as she wiggled her toes. "Maybe fifty," she taunted. "On a good day."

"Well my dear," Jack glared at her over his coffee and waited for her to stop looking so he could throw a cheese puff. "You're not a wet behind the ears cadet anymore, ma'am, colonel, ma'am." His mocking salute just made her laugh harder.

"I was never that young," Sam groaned as she tried not to remember herself as the overeager cadet.

"Or that sciencey," Jack teased with a shudder. "You know, I hated all scientists when I met you."

"You still don't like them," Sam reminded him with a grin.

"I like one," Jack paused thoughtfully musing if there were any others. "The little guy isn't bad, the one who annoys McKay."

"Radek," Sam reminded him as she swirled the sweet coffee in her cup. "He's from the Czech Republic, has all these stories about growing up in Eastern Europe. Really interesting guy. Good dissertation, brilliant habilitation--" Stopping suddenly she dug for the map. "Next exit! Next exit!"

"I know how to get to New York," Jack sighed as he batted her hand off his arm. "Weren't you just telling me how old I am? As an ancient man, I know where all these little snow-covered roads go because I am used to following the mammoth and the other creatures of legend that I hunted for food in my faraway, nearly forgotten youth."

Holding up his hand to keep her from arguing, Jack checked the rearview mirror and shook his head at her. "And no more coffee. No more Starbucks, Coffee Heaven, Dunkin' Donuts, Cocaine Cappuccino or anywhere between here and the moon where you can get caffeine. No arguing! Or we're listening to Dylan."   


* * *

"Well," Jack whispered peering in at Elizabeth and John spooned up together in the back seat like little children and waited for Sam to come join him. "Look at these two."

"They're jet-lagged," Sam chided him bouncing Evelyn and pointing out the festive lights on the elevator into the building. "Look at that," she murmured to the baby. "Aren't they pretty?"

"Am I supposed to wake them up?" Jack wondered as he slipped his hands into his pockets and tried not to smile at the poor lost souls in his SUV.

"Don't bother," Sam warned him as she slipped around the back and grabbed the baby bag. "They're in the safest parking garage on the east coast. They're fine. It's warm in here. When they wake up, they'll come in. Your name's on the buzzer. They can find it."

"I don't know if many parents like it when you run off with their child," Jack reminded her as he quietly shut the door and took the bag from her shoulder. "How's the munchkin?"

"Wanna go see the stuffy old general?" Sam asked the baby as she swung her over within reach. "There he is," she agreed with Evie chortled at Jack and grabbed at his scarf. "He's just a grumpy one, isn't he?"

"That's it," Jack decided firmly reaching over to kiss her over the baby's head. "I know someone who's going to bed early." Reaching down to smack her lightly on the butt, Jack slipped past into the elevator. "Should I lock them in?" he asked with mock concern. "I kind of feel like I'm abandoning puppies."

"Just push the button," Sam ordered glaring at him as she smiled. "What are you making for dinner?"  


* * *

"We'll figure out it," Jack said plucking Evie from Sam's arms and tilting his head towards the kitchen. "She's probably more use than you are in a kitchen anyway."

"Sad but true," Sam agreed as she hung up their coats in the closet. "Make something good."

"I always make something good," Jack repeated to the baby as he started looking through his cupboards. Balancing the baby on his left hip, he found a box of graham crackers first to distract her with. Handing her a small piece, he checked the bread and the containers of pasta thoughtfully. "Probably shouldn't make too strong for your mommy. Though she did make it all the way back without throwing up in my Jeep, so that's something. Be proud of your mommy, okay?"

Leaving the pasta he wanted out, Jack turned to the fridge. "Now, what do you want with your noodles?" he asked as Evie stared at him intently over the last bite of her cracker. "Carrots?" She knocked it out of his hand and onto the floor and he smirked at her. "Seems like a good choice." When he bent further in, Evie took the opportunity to knock two onions, a carton of cream, a pack of butter and almost a jar of pickles to the floor. Catching the pickles, he wagged his finger at her.

"Maybe you want to wait until you can walk before you start your career as a chef, huh?" Jack advised as he groaned and squatted down to retrieve the vegetables. He tossed them onto the counter and stuffed the cream back in the fridge. "No wonder your parents are tired," he mused as he peered into the freezer for protein. "Chicken?" he asked pulling out the frozen bundle. "Chicken sounds good doesn't it?"

Running cold water into the sink, he dumped some of his vegetables in one side and starting running water of the frozen chicken. "I'd offer you beer, but it'll be awhile on that one," Jack said to Evie as he tried to figure out where he could put her. The far corner of the floor looked pretty tempting. His plastic dishes were over there, and she couldn't really hurt those. Maybe the measuring cups would be enough to keep her occupied.

"What do you think?" he wondered aloud as he knelt down on the floor. Groaning when his knee popped, Jack shook his head at the baby. "And she wants to have one, get our own little apartment ruining, prodigy chef, little future SG-eighty-three team member."

Setting her down in the corner of the cabinets, he opened the safe doors and starting looking for towels to tie the other cabinets together. Evie started to chew on one of his measuring spoons and he smirked at her. "How's your mommy doing, huh?" he asked as he rubbed her head. "She gonna be okay having another one? Bet you'll like having a sibling though, little one like you to help you gang up on daddy and talk mommy into letting you fly jumpers and learn guns from the big guy."

"Okay, you, you stay down there, I gotta chop some stuff, okay?" he requested as he dragged himself back up to his feet, exaggerating the stiffness in his leg. "Did I mention I'm too old for this?" he called towards Sam in the bedroom. "All this housework and cooking, the slaving away in front of a hot stove--"

"Don't make me come in there and beat you," Sam called back from the spare bedroom. "How's the baby?"

"She's chewing knives and playing with the stove," Jack yelled as he winked at her and handed down a piece of apple. "Tastes better than spoon, trust me," he assured the baby as he went back to his chopping. "I'm not supposed to keep her alive right?" he asked Sam through the doors. "Her parents are having another one anyway. You know, we could just keep this one. They probably wouldn't miss her. Right, terror?"

Evie's response was banging on one of the plastic bowls with the measuring spoon. Jack shrugged and shoved chopped vegetables into a bowl and set them near the stove. Heating his chicken pan, he went to check it in the sink. When he thought the chicken was thawed enough, he started slicing. Turning himself and the cutting board so he could keep an eye on the baby, his hands moved quickly from years of practice.

"If you want one of these, you're going to have to learn to cook," Jack called into the hallway. "I think I'd make you."

"I'll be tired," Sam teased back as she flounced into the room and stole a piece of pepper from the dish. "I hear being pregnant just wears you out and I'll be so busy with work you'll have to cook for me."

"So you expect me to just keep house and clean for you?" Jack asked incredulously staring at her as she opened the fridge.

"Beer?" Sam asked giggling as Evie tried to keep up with them. "Look at her trying to watch you," she suggested as she removed the cap from his beer and took a sip before setting it down. "Can't keep her eyes off you."

"She's trying to decide how a codger like me is even still alive," Jack quipped dryly as he stared at his chicken grease covered hands and then sadly at his beer. "Would you mind?" he demanded with piteous eyes.

"Only because you're still the best looking man I know," Sam murmured playfully as she held the brown bottle to his lips.

"Good girl," Jack intoned smacking his lips. "Any sign of our stragglers?"

Turning her head towards the door, Sam shook her head slowly. "I can go check the security camera," she volunteered. "See if they've moved yet."

"Does this involve hacking?" Jack wondered as he washed his hands and readied another hunk of apple for the baby. "I don't know if I can support hacking."

"No, your apartment comes with a monitor for your parking space," Sam reminded him as she pointed at the security console he never used. "It's legitimate."

Poking at the chicken as it spun around in the pan, Jack went into the fridge for the substandard beer and added some of it for flavor to dinner. "Can you believe he bought this? I try to teach him everything I know, and Cameron brings over this swill. I don't even know if it's good enough to cook with."

"Least he brought beer," Sam shrugged and knelt down to help Evie pick a bowl to bang on. "Not wine like the first time Daniel came over," she reminded him with a smirk.  


* * *

Elizabeth picked at her dinner and tried to hold her head up with one hand. John looked nearly as exhausted. Though they were awake and making an effort to eat, it almost hurt to watch them. Everything John had been through to get his family this far, had taken a toll on him nearly as harsh as Elizabeth's pregnancy. The baby had contentedly eaten her dinner, fussed for a while because Sam was not her mother, but gone to sleep in a laundry basket lined with blankets making her the easiest refugee to deal with.

John had finished inhaling all the food on his plate almost as soon as he'd sat down. He seemed to be making an attempt to follow Sam and Jack's conversation but he said little and his left hand hovered near Elizabeth's shoulder.

"No one's going to force you to finish," Jack reminded Elizabeth as he cleared everyone else's plates. "I'm not your mother."

"Oh, I know," Elizabeth sighed sheepishly and dropped her head fully to John's shoulder. "I just think I should eat everything because the windows of opportunity when I'm not actively nauseated."

Jack stared at his wife with a look that conveyed, 'and you want this?' without saying a word. "Gonna be okay?" he asked Elizabeth with a gentler tone. "We could get you in somewhere if it's serious."

"No, no," she shook her head but motion that made her wince and close her eyes for a moment. "I had a rough few days when I was pregnant with Evelyn, and I've run into things that have really messed up my stomach when I've been traveling before. I'm sure it's nothing."

"You just look like you're dying," Jack taunted half seriously as he disappeared into the kitchen.

"Not uncommon for her," John agreed through a yawn. Elizabeth glared at him, but he patted her hand in apology. "You're greenish, not quite Wraith-green, but, uh--" His hand slipped out to touch her cheek before he looked away. "Did the baby cry long?"

"No--" Sam said politely.

"Yes--" Jack corrected lightly. "But she's a good kid. Went down without too much of a fight."

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth apologized rubbing the back of her neck as the tension found a place there. "You came all the way to get us and then had to deal with our screaming child while we pass out at your table."

"That is a bit odd," Jack muttered as he looked from John to Elizabeth. "Usually I bore people in the office, not at my kitchen table. But, since you both insist on hearing about it, Sam liked it," Jack interjected as he slipped back into his chair. "She wants to have one. It's good practice for her."

Glaring at her husband, Sam nearly kicked him under the table.

"She can be really cute," John said patiently sticking up for the idea. "Evie's got this little smile, when she's trying to figure something out." Jack watched him kiss Elizabeth's temple and take over the rubbing of her neck. "She's always thinking," John added with quiet astonishment.

"As soon as she really starts getting around you'll wish she spent more time watching TV," Jack warned sagely. "Hope she learns to like chess. Sciencey-geeky girls are much easier to manage."

This time Sam's foot connected with his ankle and he raised an eyebrow as he looked down.

"Am I too close to your chair, pumpkin?" Jack drawled lazily pretending he hadn't deserved the nudge. He tapped his fingers thoughtfully over his crumpled napkin. If Elizabeth finished he could start the dishes. Their impromptu arrival had manage to coincide with the failure of his dishwasher and until the holiday was past, he wasn't on the roster of repairs.

Elizabeth sighed and set down her fork as Jack watched her tighten the skin between her eyebrows. John yawned into his hand and missed the tiny gesture of discomfort. Jack supposed he had the advantage of not being mired in jet-lag. "You want dishes?" he asked with a tilt of his head towards Sam.

"Only fair, right?" Sam asked lightly as she stood and started towards the kitchen. "Show them the bedroom? Before they both fall asleep at the table?"

"I thought that was part of the idea," he quipped as he offered a hand to Elizabeth. "Just so you don't get lost in my giant apartment, I'll lead you the ten feet to my spare bedroom." Her hand was cooler than he expected, but Jack was touched that John stood to help Sam with the dishes. "Suppose there aren't dishes much on Atlantis," he mused as he slipped his second hand around her hip.

"I can't remember the last time I did them," Elizabeth admitted sheepishly lowering her head towards his shoulder. "Mom wouldn't let me help much at the embassy."

"Were you this color?" Jack demanded as he aimed her for the bed and wondered if he should have let Sam spend more time with her. That way his better half would know exactly what she was getting into.

Elizabeth took a moment to think before she giggled softly. "I am green, aren't I?" she asked as he nodded quickly.

"I've seen worse; you gonna be all right?" he wondered as he followed her legs down to her boots and started working at the laces.

"Don't ask me that," Elizabeth groaned and closed her eyes as the spare bedroom tilted slowly around her. "We might need to adjourn to your bathroom," she moaned under her breath. Jack stood up and put both hands on her face to steady her.

"Thought you were all right," he chided softly. Her skin was cool and damp beneath his fingers. "Breathe slowly," Jack suggested gently. "Hold still, hope it goes away."

Elizabeth's breath shuddered in her throat. Jack kept his gaze locked on her eyes, but she couldn't focus. Her lips were a few shades too pale and he watched her throat flutter as she swallowed.

"So, you guys do this on purpose?" Jack wondered as he casually searched the spare room for the trash bin with his eyes. Finding it by the head of the bed, just past her feet, he tried to decide if it was worth reaching around her to get it.

"It just happened," Elizabeth sighed and screwed her eyes shut. Her hands twisted into the top blanket. "We didn't talk about birth control. Not after Evie was born. I suppose we should have, we just never got around to it."

"That might be the most pathetic excuse for getting pregnant I've ever heard," he snorted lowering his left hand to reach for the trash bin. Elizabeth leaned into his right hand and her pinched expression eased slightly. The lines around her eyes were made more intense by the dark circles beneath them.

"More believable that way," Elizabeth mused dryly. "Our boss might have been a little suspicious if we admitted we were trying to have another baby so we could make his life difficult."

He ceased reaching for the trash bin when she managed to smile with one corner of her mouth. "I do believe that," Jack pointed out shaking his head. "Do you have any idea how much paperwork a foreign birth in another galaxy produces? What I went through to get the munchkin a birth certificate? I had to invent an air base last time. Invent a whole airbase, I had an airman pretending to be my secretary, and my secretary pretending to be my second in command."

"Really?" she asked rolling back her head. "All that work?" Her voice was faint and he could still hear the strain in it.

"Try explaining to a government oversight committee that one of the world's top negotiators just happened to have a baby in a here-to-for unmentioned international research initiative at the very bottom of the world," Jack muttered grimacing at the memory as he pulled himself up on the bed beside her. "I had to eventually involve the radical feminist representatives and point out that it was your right to have a baby where ever you chose."

"Letting them fight it out distracted them from a base that didn't exist?" Elizabeth speculated sighing as she hit the bed harder than she'd intended. Her head swam for a moment and Jack caught the choked note in her question. Reaching his foot for the trash bin he'd hoped was unnecessary, he felt her hands shift to her stomach. "Distract me--" was more of a plea than a question.

Grunting as he leaned back next to her on the bed, Jack stared up at the white ceiling over them and tried to think. "The number of petitions to serve as married couples has jumped to twenty-six this year. I didn't get any two years ago, what are you putting in the water over there?"

"Don't look at me," Elizabeth complained as she shifted her feet on the floor. "They tend to keep things very quiet until you approve them." Rolling her head towards him, she swallowed slowly. "We tried to."

"Well, you and John were fairly unsubtle," Jack complained with mock bitterness. "I think you were less of a surprise to your teams, and more of a 'it's about time' moment-"

"Says Jack O'Neill," she interjected wryly. "Half of the Air Force's most rumored secret romance."

"i know what I'm talking about then, don't I?" Jack retorted and studied her face. "When you're not green you look good pregnant. Fills you out a little. Softens your face."

"Don't know why everyone thinks my face is so harsh," Elizabeth quipped and caught her breath. The sudden sharpness in her tone was a warning that cut through the quiet of the bedroom.

Tilting his head towards her, Jack watched her eyes squeeze shut again. Trying to decide between hoping for the best and lying back down next to her, or pulling the garbage bin closer. "Something about being the boss makes you both more attractive and yet unattainable," he explained as he pulled himself up on his elbow to keep a better eye on her. "Sometimes it does wonders for your sex life. Not that you seem to need any help with that--"

Elizabeth moaned softly and shook her head without opening her eyes. The barely perceptible movement made the skin around her eyes tighten further and his stomach twisted in sympathy for her. Despite her obvious nausea, she managed a half-smile in his direction. "Why is it always about sex with you?" she teased faintly.

"Sex happens to be fairly important to me," Jack chuckled and rolled back to the bed, clasping his hands over his stomach and trying to relax. "You made her want one, you know."

"She wanted one before," Elizabeth retorted and held her breath until the bed ceased to move beneath her head. "She was really lovely when I was pregnant with Evelyn."

"John wasn't?" Jack prodded sardonically.

"John had to be," she murmured back without moving her head any more than she absolutely had to. "Sam was the one who had to share my office with me when i couldn't handle anything that had a smell stronger than plain water, and that was on a good morning."

"She told me she had to stop putting anything in her hair and her deodorant got to you," Jack grinned lopsidly at her. "Not nearly as funny as McKay's unending search for a cologne you could handle being in the same room with. Did he-?"

"No," Elizabeth sighed towards the ceiling. "He didn't, eventually everyone on Atlantis had to stop wearing anything with a smell if they wanted to be within a meter of me-" She opened her left eye just enough to glare at him. "-it's not that funny."

Jack made an effort to stop laughing but they both knew it was half-hearted. He was still chuckling as he slipped off the bed to finish removing her boots.

"I could do that," she protested as he freed her left ankle.

"You'd probably vomit while you were trying to remember how to untie these laces," he reminded her as he tried not to listen to creaking sounds of his back. "Who tied these?"

"John."

"John, right," Jack echoed resisting the temptation to snap the lace on the right boot instead of untying it. "A standard overhand knot is entirely acceptable, a flemish eight is just showing off and damn annoying when your wife wears cheap non-military issue boots." He won out when she actually managed to laugh weakly.

Elizabeth pulled her foot out of his hands and waved a hand towards him. "I didn't think it looked right to land in Thailand wearing American military boots," she replied as Jack pulled himself up to his knees next to the bed.

"I'm almost too old to chase a kid," Jack admitted with a backward glance towards the door. He dragged himself up off his knees with an extended sigh. "I love your munchkin, I really do, but I--" Pausing to run his hand through his gray hair, Jack sighed. "My knees can barely handle doing this for you, now. Much less for Sam in a year, or two years, or however long it takes her to get pregnant."

Elizabeth patted the bed next to her before she brought her hand to her head and joined his sigh. "john and I had that discussion. Though it was more about trying to raise a child on a floating city and around my addiction to my office than his knees, but, I understand."

"You're not my age," Jack grunted as he very carefully tried to return to the bed at her side. "At least, if you are, you're hiding it very very well." When Elizabeth's breath caught again in her throat, Jack stopped moving abruptly perched half-way onto the bed and glared at her. "You know, you could just throw up and get it over with."

"It doesn't stop once I start," Elizabeth complained bitterly as she opened her eyes up towards the ceiling. "At least, not this week. I think it's a bug or-"

"-the tadpole doesn't like Thailand," Jack interjected as he finally decided it might be easier to lean against the way by the bed, where he didn't have to keep disturbing her. "Eat anything weird?"

"Might just be being off the city," Elizabeth muttered in vague response to his question. "I haven't been off the city in months, and my first time back on Earth, I have to drag this little one with me."

"Did you know?" he wondered as his hand scratched the back of his neck. "Sam was suspicious, but she wasn't sure you and John were really--"

"Trying again so soon?" Elizabeth asked dryly as she turned her head to catch a look at him. "Or if it was just that we didn't realize from the last time we made that mistake that certain activities could lead me to being nauseous at inconvenient times and completely unable to be around anyone wearing cologne-"

"Well-"

"Perfume, mouthwash, aftershave, lotion, fabric softener, shampoo, lip gloss--" Elizabeth finished with a deep sigh. "Did Sam tell you about the Russian analyst and her hair?"

"Actually, that was Woolsey," he corrected with a wicked smile. "And he didn't have to tell me as much as walk past my office carrying his shoes wrapped in three plastic bags and a shell-shocked look I haven't seen on the man since he had a Replicator hand stuffed in his bald little head."

Watching the tiny smile creep over her face at the mental image of Woolsey tiptoeing in his socks through the SGC was deeply comforting. Not that Jack wanted to admit that he was afraid she couldn't smile, though it was a concern; he remembered that she'd been rather embarrassed about it at the time.

"He's not a bad man," Elizabeth insisted as she reached a hand towards him. "He really does try to--" Her other hand flew up alongside of it, and her lazy climb into a sitting position became desperately urgent. Jack pulled her up best he could, but once she stole her hand back to cover her mouth, he knew it was a lost cause.

Muttering to himself about the karma involved in his taunting of Woolsey last time distracted him as his search for the trash bin came a little too slow. Elizabeth managed to get half-way to her feet, leaning against him, before she threw up. Jack had nearly half a second to wonder why her expression had become so helpless before she was pushing him away in a vain attempt to protect him.

Caught between wanting to jump back in surprise and worrying she was a little too unbalanced on her feet to safely leave alone, Jack held her shoulder in one hand and the back of her head in the other. Maybe if he was careful he could keep both of them out of the shower. Jack only realized he was making on odd face at that idea when Elizabeth managed to meet his eyes. She was gasping for breath and waiting for her equilibrium to return and he stopped her when she tried to wipe her mouth on her sleeve.

"Mine's already dirty," Jack reminded her as he stared down at the sodden mess of his uniform and tried not to think about the hot fluid soaking through both of his shirts to burn his skin. There was nothing he could do to escape the smell, or the sick realization that he could still identify bits of the half-digested food clinging wetly to his clothing. "I might even have a handkerchief," he added as he reached for his still-dry back pocket.

Holding her shoulders as he handed over the handkerchief, Jack sighed and stared at the pristine wood flooring of his apartment. "You okay?"

"You're filthy," Elizabeth complained pitifully wiping the stray tears from her eyes.

"I believe I remain machine washable," Jack quipped in response. "As is my floor, and the rug I used to like in the corner." When he was reasonably certain letting go of her shoulder would not result in her losing her balance, he walked gingerly over to the towel tossed carelessly over the radiator in the corner. Tossing it on the floor, Jack managed to coax most of the mess into the towel. "Does Atlantis have some sort of magical way to clean the floors?"

"No," she shook her head slowly and rubbed the already damp handkerchief against her teeth and frowned. "It's not usually like this. I'm not this bad."

"Can get you into GW memorial if you want," he offered as he rested a hand on her knee. "Run those tests and tests and tests...I'll get you some water." Jack disappeared towards the bathroom and returned with a plastic glass in his hand and an empty laundry basket. Kicking the basket in front of him, he passed off the water as he groaned and started filling the basket with towels.

"So we can get strange data that makes no sense to anyone, then classify it and make me go through all the same tests again in Colorado?" Elizabeth groaned and shook her head. "Think it'll kill me?"

"It might ruin my wardrobe," Jack complained as he started tugging his soggy shirt out of the waistband of his trousers. "Do you mind if I?" he asked lazily staring down at his clothes. "Might have to shower-" he complained under his breath. "Aren't you going to watch?" he wondered playfully raising his eyebrows.

"Sam won't mind?" Elizabeth teased back as she forced herself to swallow the water.

"I think my wife knows how attached you are, physically, emotionally and well, biologically-" Jack said pointing his elbow at her stomach. "I seriously doubt my ancient, though toned physique will instill in you a certain desire to jump my well worn bones. If that is what you whippersnappers call it these days." His t-shirt made a wet sound as it thudded into the laundry basket at his feet. "You okay?"

"Better," Elizabeth insisted weakly tossing his handkerchief into the pile.

"Not really," he corrected as he used a second towel to dry himself off.

"Not really," she agreed curling up on the edge of the bed. "Water tastes funny."

Jack paused as he examined his trousers and realized he was going to want to take them off as well. "Gonna keep it down?"

"Taking them off?" Elizabeth asked instead of answering his question. Her knees moved up towards her chest and left with nothing better to do, she watched him remove his belt.

"I'd go in the other room," Jack began sheepishly. "But then I'll see my wife, who will make fun of me and your husband who will be rather concerned about you and then I'll have to help Sam do dishes and John will come in here and worry about you-"

"-And you're going to marginally less mother-hen-like than my husband?" Elizabeth finished for him as she swallowed and tried to decide if sitting up for the rest of her water was worth the dizziness that would follow. "Who's the yellow man with the beer and donuts?"

"I'm going to pretend you've been born in the Pegasus Galaxy and haven't been exposed to the wonders of 'The Simpsons' because that's the only reason a woman as wonderful as you are supposed to be wouldn't know about Homer," Jack muttered in disbelief as he threw on his black robe over his boxer shorts. "You didn't answer my question."

"I was trying to decide if beer and donuts is always disgusting," Elizabeth admitted as she dragged herself off the bed to finish her water. Jack's hand caught her shoulder as she leaned against the head of the bed. "Or just more so because anything that involves food sounds disgusting to me right now."

"'Bout a year from now we'll try it," Jack promised as he tucked his hands in his pockets and pushed the laundry basket out into the hallway. "You might like it then. Sure about the doctor? GW's not too far. I have more clothes I could wear to drive you. Or Sam could drive you. I'm not going to let John drive you because I'm fairly certain he couldn't concentrate on that kind of drive."

"You're exaggerating," Elizabeth moaned and clung to the cup of water with both hands. "This isn't the first time--"

"First time you've thrown up on the General in charge of Homeworld Security, " Jack began sardonically "Who is also your boss, also your husband's boss, and a fairly important man, if not the man--" Pausing with a half smile, he lowered his hand to her shoulder and made sure she was looking into his eyes. "You made me the man."

"Once," Elizabeth sighed and wondered if her eyes were stinging because she was exhausted or because he was on the verge of making her laugh. "You've been promoted without me a few times."

"True," he agreed sagely adding a second . "Want to try eating something else? I know pasta was too much for you but we have crackers. Oatmeal. Let me recommend oatmeal because it tastes and looks exactly the same coming up or down--"  


* * *

Rubbing the dishtowel in a lazy circle around a plate, John yawned and tried not to fall asleep standing up. The more he rubbed, the easier it seemed just to close his eyes and give up. If he was careful, he might not even drop the plate.

"Do you think we could manage if Jack and I had a baby?" Sam asked bluntly. The wording of the question didn't cut through John's lack of sleep induced walking coma. "In Atlantis, I mean, I know you and Elizabeth are going to be busy with Evie and the new one, but, you think we could manage. Right?"

"The baby's asleep," John answered her dumbly setting his plate down. "She's asleep in the living room."

"My baby," Sam repeated for him. "Hypothetically I mean, a baby Jack and I would have."

"Oh," John responded with the same searching expression. When Sam pressed a new plate into his hands he stared at that for a moment before he made his hands move. "Maybe you should talk about this with Elizabeth. I'm not really--" he sighed as he forced his eyes open further.

"Elizabeth's asleep," she offered with a backward glance towards the spare bedroom. "Would you two be okay?"

"Huh?" John asked stupidly shaking his head and reaching for the next plate. "Well yeah, why wouldn't we be?"

Sam watched him yawn again and wondered if she was being selfish by trying to work out her life while he was so close to falling asleep on his feet. "I could finish these," she offered as she nudged his shoulder.

"Then I will fall asleep," John replied without looking up from the cup in his hand. "It's all right. You need to--"

"It's just," Sam began as she sunk her hands into bubbles and dug out two forks. "I can't talk about it with Jack until I know how to talk about it with you and Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth will think its great," he murmured into the back of his hand. "You can commiserate about how terrible it is and talk together about how your ankles hurt."

"I know her neck hurts," Sam reminded him lightly as she searched the bottom of the sink for the last of the cutlery. "I haven't heard anything about her ankles."

"I think there was a point where everything hurt," John explained as he tried to decide if the rustling in the other room was Jack emerging from the spare bedroom or his daughter starting to fuss.

"She didn't complain much-" Sam began as she rinsed out the sink and started drying her hands. "At least, not to me."

"Right," John agreed as he took a step towards the living room. "She didn't complain much to you."

"She's fussing?" Sam asked hanging up the dishtowel and following his eyes towards the other room.

"Maybe," he waited hushing her and listening to see if his daughter would just go back to sleep. The small sounds of movement gave way to an angry squeak that took a moment to inhale before it became a wail of annoyance. Evelyn didn't cease to cry and go back to sleep like he was hoping. "I'll go."

"Can I?" Sam asked shyly. "She knows me pretty well."

John waved the cup he was drying towards the living room and nodded slowly. "She should just want to fuss for awhile and go back to sleep," he hoped. "She's usually pretty easy."

"Okay," Sam answered tucking her hair back tighter into her ponytail. "Be right back," she finished as she ducked into the other room.

Running a wet hand through his hair, John sighed and steeled himself to screaming that was coming with Sam from the living room. Evelyn was a sobbing, angry bundle wrapped in a blanket in her arms. She looked at him and he watched for that flash of recognition. This time it came with a glare of annoyance that he was starting to realize was only getting worse as she got older.

John kissed her forehead as Sam walked by and wondered if Elizabeth could hear her daughter. Hoping Elizabeth was tired enough to let him and Sam handle it, he watched Sam run her hand over the baby's back.

"Wet?" he asked setting the cup down and wishing the empty cup would someone magically refill with coffee.

"Just sleeping in a weird place," Sam guessed as she paced back and forth in the kitchen.

"Want coffee?" John asked leaving the dishes behind and stretching the aching muscles of his back. "I think I need some."

Sam nodded over Evelyn's curly head and kept pacing. The wailing was slowing to an angry burbling but she was still angry. "It's all right," Sam repeated over and over to the baby's head. "You're all right sweetie."

"She'll get bored," John insisted as he stared into the cabinet looking for coffee. "Do I need to grind it?"

"There's some in the freezer," Sam whispered as she rocked back and forth by the window. "That's the good stuff."

John returned her half-smile and reached around the frozen vegetables for the kind of container that would hold coffee. Thankfully, it was a square piece of tupperware labeled in black marker. Clutching that to the sore part of his temple, he headed for the store and the bright blue tea kettle that seemed so out of place n the neat kitchen. "She and Elizabeth are the best thing to ever happen to me," John admitted more to the tea kettle than Sam. "And this new baby- it's all so--"

"Surreal?"

"Insane!" John corrected her as he flicked on the stove and watched the blue gas flames lick at the bottom of the kettle. "Three years ago, I had a thing for Elizabeth I was pretty convinced would never go anywhere, and I was more concerned with the idea that I just needed to keep her safe and that was the best I could do."

"And a year after that you were sitting in my office trying to explain how you and Elizabeth intended to do your jobs with a baby between you," Sam reminded him as she stroked Evelyn's cheek. The little girl's tears were drying on her chubby face and her sobs were half-hearted at best.

"There was a part where I thought I was about to be sent home and told to keep it in my pants," John admitted with an evil smile.

"Jack blamed Elizabeth more than you," Sam pointed out as she planted a kiss on Evelyn's forehead. "Figured she seduced you somehow."

"Did you stand up for my honor?" he smirked and watched as his daughter's eyes started to close.

"No," Sam whispered as she watched the tea kettle start to spurt steam. "It's done." Her head nodded towards the stove. "Do you know how to work the coffee press?"

"I'm married to Elizabeth Weir," John reminded her as he shook his head.

"Point taken," Sam responded with a slow smile as she felt Evelyn's breathing start to slow against her chest.   


* * *

"These are gonna get huge you know," Jack teased as he dragged his hand lazily around the underside of Sam's breast through her thin pajama shirt and sighed melodramatically. "You're not starting in that next-to-nothing place Elizabeth did, and you saw what that cute-little-oh-Jack-she's-so-adorable little munchkin did to hers."

Pulling herself thoughtfully up on one elbow, Sam let him wander his hand over to the other breast and smiled at him. "You thought Elizabeth was beautiful," she reminded him. "You stared at her every time you were in the city."

"I didn't say I wouldn't like it," Jack reminded her as he wandered his lips over her chin towards hers. "I'll think you're beautiful. I happen to think you're fairly good looking now."

"You're not bad yourself," Sam murmured with a hand in his damp hair. "I still catch those little cadet interns of yours staring at you when they think you're not looking."

Jack's left hand rested comfortably on the elastic waistband of her pajama pants before drumming thoughtfully on her stomach. "I still have that animal magnetism that drew you to me so many years ago," he teased as he started to drag her pajamas lower. He slipped his thumb around to tease her inner thigh and looked rather pleased with himself when she jumped.

"Elizabeth is all right?" she asked before she let herself relax into his hands.

"I got her to eat oatmeal, plain, without anything fussy on it," Jack explained as he continued dragged her pajamas down off her knees. "Kept that down all right."

"You don't think we need to take her to the hospital?" Sam asked seriously as he slipped her pink striped pajama bottoms around her feet and off to the side of the bed.

"No," Jack answered seriously resting his chin on the smooth skin of her knee. "Anything else?"

"She really threw up on you?" Sam asked giggling as she reached for the belt of his robe.

"Oh yes," he answered as he traced slow lines down her calf and rolled his eyes. "All over me and the floor of the spare bedroom. Created a whole load of laundry just by herself. You know, it's a good thing my washer and dryer haven't gone the way of the dishwasher--"

His complaint ended as she kissed him. In the eleven years he had spent fantasizing about kissing Samantha Carter, even acting it out occasionally, Jack had to admit the sweet warmth of her mouth against his never lost that little thrill of electricity.

"I'm too old to chase a baby," Jack murmured into her neck as she dragged his robe off of his shoulders and started insinuating himself into his lap.

"You're young at heart, sir," Sam teased with a mocking salute. She wasn't wearing anything under the pajama bottoms that were heaped at the foot of the bed and she was wet as she settled over his thigh.

Biting his lip as he pulled her closer to his chest, Jack ruffled her blonde hair. "Okay," he simply answered the question she hadn't asked again.

"Yeah?" Something in her blue eyes twinkled.

"Okay, Carter," he repeated as he snapped her bra free of the clasp on her back. "You win."

"I usually do, sir," she gloated reaching for the hem of her shirt. Ripping it up over her head, she was pulling her breasts free of her bra before he even had the chance to ogle the tan satin and the curves beneath.

"Is usually some kind of code for always?" he teased as he grabbed her left breast casually and winked at her.

"How did you know?" she teased before she pushed him back hard against the bed. "Are all your boxers Simpsons related?

"Do you do my laundry?" Jack demanded as she started easing them off his hips.

"You do my laundry," she reminded him as her breasts ran teasingly over his chest. "You're kinda like my wife."

"Do you want sex?" Jack sputtered in mock indignation.

"Yes!" Sam chuckled and nibbled his neck. "I've had a long day at the office and I need to unwind with the little woman."

"That really isn't sexy," he pointed out pouting up at her as her hair tumbled down towards his face.

"These are," Sam reminded him as she dragged both of his hands to her breasts and giggled impishly.

With a look of deep concentration and mocking groan, Jack rolled them both over and trapped her beneath him. Sliding his hands roughly over her breasts, he trapped her wrists against the pillows and felt her gasp beneath him. "This is the point where you shut up and let me have my way with you."

"Yes, sir," Sam hissed in his ear as she ground her hips up against him. Jack grinned and forced her hands deeper into the pillow. Using his right forearm to hold her arms captive, he ran his left hand down wickedly towards her clit. Brushing against it hard, he listened to her moan in his ear before he teased her open with two fingers.

Rolling on her side and draping a long leg carelessly over his hip, Sam changed the angle before he slipped inside her. It was gentler than usual and he took the time to watch her eyes flit from shock to half-closed contentment. She rocked against him, taking over the motion as she freed her hands and dug long fingers into his back. Jack caught her chin and held her eyes to his. His left hand was still working against her, twisting between them as he fought to keep contact. The fragile skin covering the aching flesh of her clit slid wet against his rough hands.

Sam forced them back over, regaining the position on top she favored. Once there she dug her knees in against his hips and made him work for his release. Sucking her breast made her laugh throatily before moaning as he pinched his fingers together tight.

Kissing him once, sloppily breaking it to pant against his cheek, Sam felt his right hand push her in tighter against his hips. He was almost lazily comfortable with fucking her and his smug grin remained in place even as she pulled him deeper. Biting his chest just made him pull her head up lightly by her hair and kiss her properly until she was panting for breath.

Jack was solid and hot inside of her and she wondered if there was any truth in birth being at all related to sex. The wondering if she'd ever find out faded into the screaming ache just below her navel that insisted on being released in a heady tingling that refused to fade politely. His fingers were still there, working diligently towards adding to that feeling.

Smirking as he dragged her down to kiss her panting lips, Jack felt her teeth scrape his lower lip and knew he was succeeding. First she trembled slightly, just in her legs, then she shuddered once from toes to lips pressed into his neck. Sam's fingers spasmed before digging in to the soft flesh of his back. Waiting just a moment past her let him watch the orgasm darken her eyes. Her lips toyed with his chin as euphoria swept over him like a pleasant shockwave.

"You're a smug bastard," she murmured to him as she toyed with the gray hair on his chest.

"You like it."

"I tolerate it," Sam promised sardonically. "There's a subtle difference."

"Oh?"

"I love you."

"Because I'm a smug bastard," he insisted feeling her knee find a place against his side.

Sam reached up to bat at his head. "That part's really more of a gray area."

Striking out for the light, he sighed and looked thoughtful. "Can I love you in it?"

"The grey area?" Sam wondered as she snuggled a little closer and reached for the blankets they'd shoved out of the way. 'I think it's allowed actually."

"Love doesn't have a lot of physics?"

"No," Sam shook her head in the dark before leaning in to kiss him. "Physics doesn't really apply to that."

"Or the gray area."

"Right," Jack finished and wrinkled his nose at her. "I like that."


End file.
